1957 Austin Healey 100 Six
VEHICLE DESCRIPTION
For many enthusiasts, the ‘Big Healeys’ of the 1950s are the archetypal British sports cars of their time, thanks to their combination of attractive styling, robust engines and competition pedigree.
The Austin-Healey 100-6 being offered for sale here is an original right-hand-drive, UK-market car that was built at Longbridge in October 1957. It was then displayed at the Scottish Motor Show in Glasgow, before being dispatched to Proctor & Paterson – an Austin main dealer in Elgin, near Inverness.
Its first owner was Henry Samuel and the car retains its original Moray registration number of DSO 920, which was issued on 1 February 1958. The Heritage Certificate that is supplied with the car shows that it left the factory having been specified with overdrive and the optional heater.
More recently, the 100-6 was fully restored and superbly upgraded to fast-road specificationbetween 2011 and 2014. The six-cylinder engine has been rebuilt with high-compression pistons, an unleaded cylinder head with competition valves and springs, an uprated camshaft, lightened flywheel, and triple SU HD8 2in carburettors on a Ruddspeed manifold.
The braking system benefits from a front disc conversion, and a high-torque starter motor has been fitted, along with a spin-on oil filter and Facet fuel pump, plus electronic ignition and a battery cut-off switch.
The 100-6 was resprayed in the striking shade of Tornado Red as part of the restoration, while the black interior is largely as it was when it left the factory. There’s even a plate from supplying dealer Proctor & Paterson on the Smiths heater.
Not only is this 100-6 presented in a way that faithfully evokes the iconic competition Healeys of the 1950s and ’60s, complete with works-style hardtop and grille, it also sounds fabulous thanks to its big-bore, side-exit exhaust. It all adds up to an exhilarating and charismatic choice of old-school sports car.
MODEL HISTORY
Donald Healey founded his eponymous car company in 1945, having already served as an RFC pilot in World War One, won the Monte Carlo Rally driving an Invicta, and worked for both Riley and Triumph.
With Achille Sampietro and Ben Bowden on board, the company initially built Riley-powered cars in small numbers. Then, at the 1952 London Motor Show, it produced a prettynew model with styling by Gerry Coker, a chassis by Barry Bilbie, and the 2660cc four-cylinder engine from an Austin A90. Leonard Lord, boss of Austin, was suitably impressed, and the Austin-Healey era was about to begin.
A deal was done for Jensen to build the bodies, and final assembly took place at Austin’s Longbridge plant. The first-series Healey 100s were known as the BN1 and featured a three-speed gearbox with overdrive on second and third. Drum brakes were used all round and many of the major mechanical components came from the Austin A90. An updated BN2 model was introduced in 1955 and had a four-speed gearbox, still with overdrive on the top two ratios.
The 100 was replaced in 1956 by the six-cylinder 100-6, which was powered by BMC’s 2.6-litre C-Series engine. This latest variant featured a slightly longer wheelbase than its predecessor and was originally offered in 2+2 BN4 form, before the two-seater BN6 was added in 1958.
The straight-six engine initially produced 102bhp, but modifications to the cylinder head and inlet manifold boosted that to 117bhp in 1957, the same year that production moved from Longbridge to the MG factory at Abingdon.
Karl Ludvigsen tested a 100-6 for Sports Car Illustrated and said that it felt like ‘an entirely different car’ compared to its four-cylinder predecessor. ‘There’s a smooth steam-engine surge in any and all gears, even in overdrive top, the instant the tap is opened,’ he wrote.
Production of the 100-6 lasted until 1959, by which time the ‘Big Healey’ had long since proved itself not only in competition, but also in the international sales charts.